The international fight to save the Daily News – still off the streets in Zimbabwe – was stepped up this week.
Three senior executives from publishers Associated Newspapers Zimbabwe were due in London to highlight the paper’s plight.
They are Sam Nkomo, chief executive officer, who last week along with three other directors spent more than 48 hours in police custody in Harare, Bill Saidi, editor of the Daily News on Sunday and Gugu Moyo, company secretary and legal adviser.
One of the highlights of their visit will be a meeting chaired by Kate Hoey MP, who visited Zimbabwe in July and has since become a strong champion for their cause in Parliament.
The Daily News made a brief reappearance on the streets of Harare on the Saturday before last, after winning a court case in which it was ruled the paper should be allowed to register by the state-controlled Media and Information Commission.
However, the paper’s offices were raided by police and journalists and executives of the paper detained.
The Daily News has issued an urgent appeal for laptops following the seizure of its journalists’ office computers.
Anyone who can help can contact The Daily News via Press Gazette on 020 8565 4448 or by e-mail to pged@pressgzette.co.uk.
By Jon Slattery
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